Laridian’s Palm Pre Plans

We’re announcing today that we’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bits of God Software to be the exclusive provider of Bibles and other reference materials for an upcoming version of the popular Simple Bible application for the Palm Pre. Once completed, this will give current Laridian customers who have chosen the Palm Pre as their mobile platform access to the Bibles and reference books they already own for other platforms. It will also give new Simple Bible users immediate access to one of the largest collections of Bible-related content for mobile devices. The new program from Bits of God Software, currently referred to as Simple Bible Pro, will allow users to download new Bibles and reference content directly into the program from their account on Laridian’s site.

As we’ve said here before, programming for the Pre is a whole new challenge. Our existing code that runs on Windows Mobile, iPhone, Windows desktop, and Palm OS really gives us no leverage on the Pre. With that in mind we sought a partner, and when it comes to Bible software on the Pre, the guys at Bits of God are the best. We’re pretty excited about partnering with them.

Our current agreement is “an agreement to agree” so there are many details to be worked out yet. We’ve agreed in principle on most of the more difficult points of our relationship, so we don’t anticipate any problems. The important thing is that it looks like current PocketBible and MyBible customers will have a migration path if they choose the Pre, and that Simple Bible Pro will get a jump start over other Bible software on the device by having access to Laridian’s growing library of content.

This is GREAT news! I’ve been using Simple Bible since it first came out. It’s a decent start, but obviously is only a skeleton of what it will be in the future. Like Reid said above, with this news I’m glad I can remain a Laridian customer as I’ve been using your software for MANY years (back to the DOS days). Thanks for the good news.

Just what I’ve been waiting for, since I purchased my Pre. I was so disappointed that I might have to use the Classic software, and purchase a new version of MyBible, just to get my old MyBible functionality. Laridian is great, and with Bits of God’s experttise with WebOS, this is a tremendous move for the consumer (and hopefully for both companies, too).

Thank you Laridian, this is great news. I have not used your software before (I had another Bible software package on my iPAQ) but when SB Pro comes out I will move over to your software. WebOS and the Pre is my constant companion and I miss not having good reference material available at my fingertips. And the good news for you is you will gain new customers such as myself.

Like that commercial says….”Open…Open…Open” – can’t wait! I have invested in many books with Laridian and will continue to add more! Thanks and let’s make that Memorandum of Understanding a reality! Thanks!

Laridian’s MyBible for my Palm T/X, along with all the MyBible reference resources, has provided me great insight and understanding into the Bible that I would never have obtained using hard cover printed books. I take my Palm T/X wherever I go and during my spare time I am able to read my daily Bible readings and reference all the additional resources from MyBible. I am thoroughly excited to know that Laridian will provide the same tremendous selection of Bible versions and Bible resources for the Palm Pre. I will now be purchasing a Palm Pre within the next month. Congratulations to Laridian and Bits of God Software on their venture to offer excellent Bible resources to the Palm Pre mobile community. May God bless your devotion to porting the Bible to another technology platform, especially an Open technology platform.

as a long time mybible user with all the additional applications i am excited that i will again be able to use all the functionality. it has enhanced my study and readiness for ministering to people while on the go. I didn’t always have my Bible but i did always have my Laridian Bibles

This is wonderful news! I have used MyBible for years, and I held off getting a Pre until I would be able to use MyBible. The Classic app is better than nothing, but I am greatly looking forward to the Simple Bible app.

Wow! This is great news. I have purchased and used MyBible software for several years on multiple Palm Treos and the Centro. I now have a Pre and using Simple Bible and was still hoping I could use all that I invested in Laridian purchases. I’m looking forward to using Simple Bible Pro and even purchasing more software from Laridian. I have lots of friends who will welcome this news as well. Thanks Laridian for working with the Simple Bible people.

I was planning to get the Pre as soon as Verizon offers it in a couple months. I am sure there are many others as well. This is great news. Hopefully this will be resolved and ready, before Verizon has MANY people who are holding onto their Treos make the switch. Thank You.

I, too, am very pleased to get this news. Since I have to move from my beloved Palm OS to a totally different OS, I’ve been looking at all the platforms, but mostly Blackberry and iPhone because there seem to be more apps to choose from. MyBible program and books, along with a ckbk/budget program, and diet & exercise program are the most important apps that I am looking to be able to use on a new phone. I was interested in the Pre but decided not to change to another mobile carrier just to get it. Now I am reading that it is coming to AT&T after the first of the year! Ya! But still I am being cautious about it because of the instability of the company. Your announcement of this is causing me to take another look at the Palm Pre. Thanks. I wish both of you the best even if I don’t decide to go with the Pre at this time.

**An initial request for the new Simple Bible Pro version, that supports the Laridian resources, is that Bible text is presented in a more paragraph format (like the original printed text might appear) rather than forcing every verse to begin on a new line. This format breaks up passages and sentences and makes it more difficult to read. Note that the current version of Simple Bible available through the Pre app store, puts every verse on a new line. Can you please pass along this request to the developers of Simple Bible Pro? Thanks much.

I love my PocketBible for my HP iPAQ. I am looking at other phones and devices for the future. What about all these new ebook readers coming out? Kindle is very limited, but Barnes and Noble will have their new ereader machine out at the end of November. I hope you are all working on these platforms for the future!

Rod: All of the dedicated ebook readers like Kindle and Sony Reader are proprietary devices that do not support third-party add-ons. Bible study on those devices has been and always will be sketchy because they’re not designed even for “library” use, not to mention “Bible” use. That is, you can seldom do things like split the screen to show two books at the same time, create cross-references from one book to another in your notes, do complex searches across your entire library, etc. — all things that are common features in Bible study software. In addition, there’s no Bible-centricity to them. You can’t have Strong’s numbers, Greek and Hebrew, synchronization between multiple open Bibles, etc.

That is excellent news. Perhaps I can begin to use my new Pre like I did my Treos before. Still waiting to figure out how as Motion Apps website keeps sending me back to Laridian’s regarding how to download MyBible files to Classic! Judging from the foregoing comments, it doesn’t work well on the Pre anyway.

Garrett: What did our Tech Support tell you about installing MyBible files to Classic? MyBible is Classic Certified. It works great in Classic. Now, whether or not you will enjoy running classic Palm OS apps on your Pre is a different question.

We don’t talk about what we may or may not be doing. However, it is safe to say that you should not interpret this announcement regarding Palm Pre to imply that it means that a Linux version of PocketBible is the next logical step, any more than you could imply that from our iPhone version simply because iPhone is Linux-based.

I have used My Bible for years now, and just recently tried Simple Bible on the Pre – the two companies working together will certainly produce a beautifully effective tool for Bible study – it is truly a promising direction for both.

Sounds great – I’ve been using the Simple Bible a little bit, but it will be great to be able to use my purchased translations with that software in full-screen, rather than the small screen for Classic.

Not sure I understand your rephrased question, so I will give you a bunch of information and let you sort it out.

Currently, MyBible for Palm OS does not support devotional books. And now that I think about it, with the demise of the Palm OS it’s safe to say it never will.

DailyReader is our devotional reader for Palm OS. We have made most of our devotional books available for DailyReader (some only run in PocketBible for our other platforms).

MyBible and DailyReader are a bit out-of-date compared to our other readers. PocketBible for Windows Mobile, Windows desktop, and iPhone, and iPocketBible.com, our Web-based reader, are all able to use our full library of devotional titles.

All of our (non-Palm-OS) Bibles, reference books, and devotionals share the same data format. That’s why all the other readers can handle all of them and we don’t need a separate daily devotional reader for those other platforms.

We don’t consider the division between devotionals and other books to be a good thing. That’s not something we would want to continue onto any new platform.

Firstly thanks Laridian for taking on the pre. Unfortunately, no one outside the USA can get Classic due to issues with Palm App store. Is there anyway you can please pursue another avenue for us to read The Word?? I have just spent $100 purchasing your software only to find I cannot access it. Palm have so much on their plate it could be some time before Classic makes it onto the App Store.

I also think by making your software fully Pre enabled, you will increase revenues as Pre becomes more popular with first time palm users like myself

Given that Palm has also announced that the new Verizon Pre Plus will soon (later this month) have a C/C++ SDK, does that change your earlier position about your existing code not having any “leverage on the Pre”?

If so, is there then some possibility of a full-featured WebOS Bible app from Laridian later this year?

Of course the availability of a C/C++ SDK affects our ability to compile existing PocketBible code for the Pre. But keep in mind we’ve been able to compile our C/C++ code for Symbian for years and we don’t have a reader for that platform. It’s just one of many issues related to porting to a new platform.

I was compiling our C++ code for iPhone and viewing Bibles in a rudimentary format within a week of starting our iPhone app. But it still took about 18 months to finish it up. Compiling the code we can share between platforms is a very small part of developing a reader for a new platform.

And of course no announcement from Palm changes our policy of not talking about what may or may not be under development. We appreciate your interest, though.

Add me to the list of excited Pre users. I also decided on the Pre Plus because of the option to run my Bible software using Classic until the webOS version is released. Classic works OK, but is not a good long term solution. Thanks for all you do and I can’t want to see the Laridian programs running on webOS.

I’ve been clinging to my guns and my God… AND my 6 year-old Sony Clie. Why? Because of MyBible, period! Now that I have a Palm Pre, I’m hoping I’ll be able to use some of the MANY MyBible apps I’ve purchased over the years. If not, I’ll hang onto my Clie as long as I possibly can. This announcement offers a glimmer of hope…

Looking forward to having ready access to my Laridian content!
(using BibleGateway.com, as a temporary reading solution…
just miss all the reference and functionality of Laridian’s software!)
…
Keep checking my inbox for a “PRE-Bibles are here!” announcement.

Hi Craig!
iPocketBible might work on the iPhone but it doesn’t work on the Pre. When you load it you cannot scroll text. What you get is the number of lines between the title bar at the top of the screen and the icon bar at the bottom. The icon bar obscures the text underneath it and the text refuses to scroll.
The same applies in the menu where you select text or in the preferences screen where again the icon bar sits on top of the text and the menu cannot be scrolled to see entries behind or below the icon bar.
The same is true in both landscape and portrait.
Any ideas?
Programme looks great, by the way and loads really fast on the Pre but its a bit of a shame for me that it doesn’t work because in every past phone I have had a laridian product – Palm OS, Windows OS and iPhone.
Can’t wait for the proper programme to come.

Log into iPocketBible.com from your desktop computer and change the scroll mode to “one-finger scrolling”. This will get rid of the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and allow you to scroll the text. Then log in from your Pre and it should work.

When in this mode, tap the left edge or right edge of the screen to bring up a floating toolbar. It may appear at the top of the chapter, so you may have to scroll up to see it.

Also in this mode, double tapping the left or right edge will turn the page.

Thanks for the tips on how to use iPocketBible. I’ve done as you suggested, i.e., logged in on my desktop and made the changes. However, when I tap the left or right edge of the screen no toolbar appears anywhere on the page. In addition, when I double-tap the left edge of the screen it takes me up one verse and when I double-tap the right edge of the screen it takes me down one verse. Any suggestions?

That’s more of a tech support question that a blog comment, but I’ll take a swing at it.

There’s no functionality in iPocketBible to move up or down by a verse, so I don’t know why you would be seeing that behavior unless there’s some strange option in the browser to move you to the next or previous link when you tap the right or left edge.

Try it in your desktop browser and see how it works. Then you can compare the behavior on your phone.

That’s probably about the most I’m going to be able to help since I don’t have a Pre to test on myself. I just know others have been using it successfully.

Thanks Craig I tried iPocket for my Pre, but it seems stuck on the Bible info for the American Standard on both my desktop and on my Pre and I can not go back home, the buttons are not there on my dektop or Pre.I think that I will continue to use my Classics and the simple Bible until the Simple Bible Pro is release. Anyways Laridian is awesome, thnaks!

When you turn off the tool bar in order to get it to work correctly on the Pre, you re-activate the buttons by tapping in the very left or very right margin. The same trick works on the Pre or your desktop browser.

Answers to these and other good questions can be found in the extensive built-in help, which is accessed by pressing the “?” button in the upper right corner.

I tried to post the following, but WordPress complains that I’ve said it before. So I’ll say it again: Our agreement with Bits of God Software prohibits us from disclosing anything we might know about their development schedule.

I have been using your products on my Palm phones since MyBible 3.0. I absolutely love it! i now have a Palm Pre and I’ve downloaded the free Bibles available. They are OK. (They need a little boot camp to be all that they can be.) I miss my NIV w/Study Bible, so I’m waiting with great anticipation for that version, and Simple Bible Pro in general.

What slays me, burns my hindside, etc., is that Palm didn’t bring you all on board sooner. It also burns me that Laridian didn’t fight to be a part. Yes, Bible software isn’t as big as the next version of Texas Hold ‘Em or Bejeweled, but there are enough Christians who like the convenience of having a Bible handy at all times to put up a stink. And if Palm wants their newest OS to succeed, they’ve got to know who is buying their products and why.

Can use my version of the NIV that came with my bible on the free version of Simple Bible?

just an observation. It seems like Laridian has spent a tremendous amount of time developing te iPhone version of MyBible – and basically no time developing for the Palm Pre. I know that can’t be true – but based on te blogs and forums – there’s little activity. I know you don’t control the phones we decide to buy, but I’m just communicating as a loyal customer who believes no other bible software for smartphones even comes close, that i’m a little concerned we’ve just been dropped. Simple Bible doesn’t seem to have the staff to move quickly enough. The latest big update was to add 3 bookmarks instead of 1. Is this really the best app that Laridian could find to bridge their loyal palm users? Just wwish there was a reason to hope Laridian was delivering an answer soon.

I’m obligated by a non-disclosure agreement not to talk about certain aspects of our work with Bits of God Software. I think I can say the following, however: I have regularly scheduled conference calls with the developers of Simple Bible Pro. They are making progress that you’re not aware of because they haven’t made it public.

The Simple Bible Pro program is based on Simple Bible, but it’s a separate project. The fact that you don’t see lots of new features in Simple Bible is actually good news. It means that they’re spending their time on Simple Bible Pro.

I know for a fact that progress is being made based on our most recent conversations. I’m just obligated not to discuss it.

We were able to develop our iPhone app in-house because it supports the C++ programming language (same language used for MyBible for Palm OS and PocketBible for Windows Mobile). That meant all of our existing code could be used and wouldn’t have to be rewritten. The Pre uses languages that would require us to start from scratch and learn a whole new system. This is one reason why partnering made a lot of sense.

Keep in mind, too, that the number of iPhone users is at least 4 times the number of Pre users. And when you look at network activity like the folks at AdMob do, iPhone is 18-20 times the volume as Pre. While the Pre is a great device and webOS is a cool operating system, its market share is really tiny. I think we made a good decision to partner with an existing developer instead of trying to do something ourselves. And when we looked at the Bible programs available at the time, it was clear that Simple Bible was the product to be associated with. We’re really happy about our relationship with them. You should be, too.

You can’t use any of your Laridian Bibles with the free Simple Bible program. You need to wait for Simple Bible Pro. That’s one of the things we’ve been working on with them — making it possible for their program to log into your account, determine what you own, then download it to the Pre. In fact we just did some debugging on that on Monday, where I watched what was going on on the server while they downloaded a Bible from a user account. By working together we were better able to see what was going on and hopefully iron out the problem.

I, too, love my Pre. It took me a few weeks to decide whether to invest in Classic or wait (im)patiently to see what developed with Simple Bible Pro. Happily, I decided to try to Classic and am very happy that I did. Everything transferred over perfectly. I was even warned that my bookmarks wouldn’t come over, but there they are, safe and sound.

I have only one request: I use the NIV Study Bible and love reading all the study helps. However, when there are multiple asterisks side by side (like in many of the Psalms), it’s very difficult to hone in on the right one. It wasn’t a problem when using the Treo stylus or my fingernail, which could literally pinpoint the exact asterisk, but much harder to do now with a fingertip. I have fairly slender fingers and still have problems. If you could mention this to the developers, I’d appreciate it.

And just a quick word about tech support — your people are the greatest! They always respond quickly with detailed and personalized instructions. Thanks for running the company as a reflection of true Christian principles.

I’m still disappointed that you guys have decided not to develop a native WebOS application yourself. I understand your hesitation in investing your time into developing for WebOS, but by not doing so I believe that you have lost the chance to gain a significant market share in an emerging market.

I mean no offense to Bits of God Software, they have admirable good intentions, but so far they have not developed a quality product. They certainly have not engaged their customers and potentially paying customers effectively. This makes me uncomfortable buying a future product from them. I hope that in your agreement with them you gave them a stipulation for termination of the agreement if they did not provide a suitable product within a certain timeframe. It has been 9 months since this agreement was announced, and we still don’t even see a little belly bump, let alone a baby!

You’re confusing what you can see with what is really happening. You may not have seen Simple Bible Pro, but it exists and is coming along nicely. Furthermore, you assume that if we had not partnered with BoG (or if we terminated our agreement today) that you would see a webOS app from us sooner. Ask the Android fans if that’s the case.

We continue to believe that this was the right choice for us for webOS. It’s not a platform we would be spending ANY development time on right now, so even if BoG is giving it 5 minutes a day, it’s 5 minutes more than we would’ve given it here.

Craig, I don’t want to bash you, but I don’t think you actually read my post, because your response didn’t sound like it was to me. It sounded like you were just answering all of the other people who have commented on this issue.

I am not confusing what I am seeing with what is really happening. I clearly communicated that the problem is the fact that we aren’t seeing anything! When I said “so far they have not developed a quality product,” I am referring to the only product that they have developed that is currently available, which is the Simple Bible app. It’s just not that great. However, regardless of what they are working on back in the wood shed, the bottom line is that for the consumer, if we don’t see it, it doesn’t exist! For example, the iPhone 5 and the Sony PlayStation 4 do not exist. Certainly both of those devices are being developed, but they don’t exist right now. As I explained before, the lack of an existing quality product combined with their lack of communication makes me unlikely to buy a product from them in the future. They need to ramp up their communication with their customers if they want to be successful. You, of all people, already know that.

I am also not assuming that I would see a WebOS app from you any sooner if you had not partnered with them. It is the very fact that you have chosen not to develop for WebOS yourself that I am disappointed in. As I stated in my tweet long ago, I am saddened by the developers that built their companies on the back of Palm and their users, and now have basically abandoned them like SplashData, DataViz, Laridian, etc.

OK, after reading your post about Android, http://blog.laridian.com/?p=205I have a slightly better perspective of your company. I understand not wanting to put the time in, especially if there are only a few of you.

I know I’m ranting now, so forgive me, but I think that the thing that drives me crazy is the exclusivity. Exclusivity breeds contentment. Competition drives quality. When you told me that you had outsourced it, I assumed that you had hired someone else to do it. In other words, they had to report to you, and they were accountable to you, because essentially they were working for you. If you were keeping it all in house, then sure, keep it exclusive. However, if you’re gonna partner, open it up and let other developers take a whack at it. Maybe we’ll get something on WebOS before Jesus come’s back!

I did read your post. I know sometimes we don’t type what we’re thinking. So if I didn’t understand what you intended, but didn’t write, then that’s fine — no harm done.

As I may have said to you before, let’s remember that we didn’t abandon Palm users, but rather Palm abandoned both their developers and their users — just as Microsoft has done with Windows Phone 7. Palm had a choice of whether or not to walk away from their users. We didn’t.

Now we have a choice of whether or not to invest our limited resources in a device that has 0% market share (WP 7), one that has 5% (webOS), one that has 15% (Android) or one that has 25% (iPhone). That pretty much sums it up.

Because of the nature of our agreement with Bits of God I can’t talk about anything I know about their progress. It’s up to them. Feel free to poke them and see what they’ll tell you.

Your argument re exclusivity is weak in this case. By working exclusively with one partner we motivate that partner to do something. If we weren’t committed to anyone, they wouldn’t be committed to us. Furthermore, there’s not enough market there to split the market between more than one partner.

Again, I believe we’ve made the right choice here. You certainly have other options. I can only do what I believe is right for our customers, shareholders and employees while at the same time not completely ignoring our customers who opted to go with webOS.

Yes, we would all really love to have a Bible (of a translation most of us read) on our Pre. You need to take your rant to HP/Palm! You complain about it being 9 months and nothing done. Go yell at Palm! It’s been over 1.5 years and no new WebOS phone? If they want market share, they need more phones. If we want more apps, we need more market share. Oh, but in early 2011 a new one…. no, it’s another Pre with a faster processor. Great! I can use a homebrew app and fun my current Sprint Pre at 1ghz! The fact is, this is a business. WebOS has no valuable market share because Palm sucked it up. I do believe this will get better as the WebOS rolls out onto other devices (palm pad anyone?) but until then, be happy that these guys are even considering partnering with someone to put something out. OliveTree laughs at me when I ask them about a WebOS reader.

Or go complain to IBS/Biblica/Zondervan whatever they are called and tell them to lower the licensing fees. If they were more reasonable, I can guarantee more developers would be all over a Bible app.